Between the Lines
by Saotome-sama
Summary: Just another Ranma & Akane fic


Between the Lines

Akane rolled her tongue against the inside of her lip as she looked  
over her shoulder. Seeing that there was no one present to witness what  
she was about to do, she moved closer to her objective. Her heart was  
pounding, and in her ears she could hear the roar of her blood pulsing  
through her body. Gulping once in a futile attempt to calm herself, Akane  
quickly grabbed the worn green book.

She had first spotted it about thirty minutes ago. She had been  
good for the first fifteen minuets not once daring to think about  
touching it, let alone looking inside the book. But as time passed, she  
found herself looking at the small stack of books that had spilled out of  
Ranma's backpack. The green one in particular. Now it was in her hands and  
she didn't know what to do with it. Deciding on a course of action, Akane  
slowly opened it to the first page, making Akane the first person outside  
of the Saotome family to look inside the Anything-Goes Cat-Fu manual. It  
was the book Genma said explained Ranma's fear of cats. Soon after the  
book vanished, and now here it was. Akane had never actually thought about  
it much after that... until...

Listening to the sounds of Ranma and his father sparing in the  
Dojo, Akane decided it was safe to look in the book. She was honest with  
herself, Akane knew she was looking through it for a chance to know Ranma  
better. He was doing precious little on his own to help, so Akane had to  
try any chance she could. Akane knew that the Cat-Fist had left a profound  
psychological impact on Ranma. Maybe if she could understand what had  
happened to him, she might be able understand him a little better.

At first she read the pages very carefully, taking a mental note  
of everything she saw. Soon she was skimming the paragraphs, and finally  
every other page. In the back ground Ranma and his father had exited the  
Dojo and were now training in the yard. Any moment now one, or more likely  
both would end up in the pond ending the day's training. Finally in an  
attempt to stay ahead of the likely scenario she began looking for key  
words.

What..? She had been skimming over a page when she saw one of  
the words she was looking for. One she really hadn't expected to find.  
Akane skipped back to the top of the page and read it carefully, making  
sure she understood, for most of it was on the human psyche, and different  
portions of the ego. Although it was stuff Nabiki would have been  
interested in, Akane was becoming board with it. Luckily Akane only had to  
understand the one part.

As she read, the words turned blurry. It took her a moment to  
realize it was from the tears she was forming around her eyes. Wiping  
them, Akane reread the page over and over, memorizing every word in her  
heart.

"...The victim, when under the influence of the Cat-Fist, will  
seek out a loved one..."

Several minutes had gone by, but the meaning had remained the same  
as when she had first read it. She bit her bottom lip to stop a small  
smile that was forming. She still wasn't ready to except it. Not yet.

If it was true, then they had more in common then she had dared to  
believe. Nabiki, Kasumi, Ukyo, Shampoo none of them had ever managed to  
approach Ranma after he had gone under to the Cat-Fist. Not even his own  
mother was allowed to approach when Ranma was like a cat. Like the time  
when Nakoda had dropped by for a visit. Unknown to everyone "Ranko" had  
accidentally been exposed to a kitten. The result was the whole evening  
turning into a living nightmare, with Nakoda being lucky not to have  
received any injuries. Only Akane was able to calm Ranma.

Akane was only able to come up with one answer as to why Ranma  
treated her differently. Although, a part of her (which was sounding a  
lot like Nabiki) was warning her she was seeing what she wanted to. The  
passage could have easily meant he thought of her as a sister... Akane  
shook her head at this, so that once again her hopes of what she had read  
took a hold of her. She read the page one last time to make sure the words  
hadn't magically changed on her. Seeing that they remained the same,  
Akane's heart silently shouted in joy, while she slowly closed the book  
and held it tight before returning it to Ranma's book bag.

"Wha'ch so happy about?" Ranma-Chan grumbled, as she walked across  
the living room sopping wet. Behind the Pig-Tailed Girl, Akane could see  
two damp panda legs sticking up from out of the ground.

"Oh..." Akane looked across the room to quickly verify that she  
had put the book back. (almost a moment to late.) As she starred it seemed  
to look out of place, she hadn't had time to adjust it. "I just heard some  
great news. I really need to tell Kasumi." Saying that, Akane tripped over  
herself, as she tried to exit the room.

Ranma watched puzzled as Akane stumbled out of the room, and away  
from the kitchen where Kasumi was. "Huh? What's gotten in to her?" Ranma  
laughed at Akane's antics. In the background the Pig-Tailed Girl could  
hear Mr. Panda growling for help. "Stupid old man..." Ranma mumbled, then  
went up the steps grabbing the backpack on the way up.

"Aw... You're just mad. I mean with thighs as thick as yours you  
couldn't possibly bring you feet close enough to walk up here. You're just  
jealous" Ranma answered in response to Akane's usual going home question.  
For the past three days things had been going pretty well between the two  
of them, she hadn't beaten him up once. In fact, Akane had started  
treating Ranma a little bit nicer. Not to be out done, Ranma immediately  
began treating her with more respect. The usual taunts were now followed  
with a smile and a laugh.

"Ha! So you admit it! You have been looking at my legs, you  
pervert!"

"What!" Ranma spun towards Akane, his face turning bright red.  
"I.nvgddsahnm." His words lost all coherentness at this turn of events.

"Ranma, I got you." From the confused state Ranma was in, he never  
had a chance to dodge as Akane pushed him off the fence with one finger. A  
splash followed as he landed in the canal. As the splashing stopped a  
red-head girl popped up out of the water.

Spitting out a mouthful of water, she glared at Akane and yelled.  
"Stupid Tomboy!" At once Ranma began to climb out of the water.

"Who's stupider... The Tomboy, or the person who likes her," Akane  
shouted? Ranma who had spider climbed half way back up, lost her grip when  
Akane shouted this. A loud splash signaled Ranma's return to the water.  
She was greeted with the sounded of Akane's laughter, (The one that always  
made Ranma a little weak in the knees.) when she resurfaced. Ranma smiled  
while watching Akane half-heartily race home.

Ranma had found it a pain sneaking the Cat-Fist manual past Genma,  
and putting it back unnoticed would be even harder. But as she watched  
Akane disappeared out of sight, her laugh still audible, Ranma decided it  
had indeed been well worth it. "Gee.. I guess it was worth it." After that  
she silently added, "I might not be able to say it... but at least you  
know I do feel it."

Ranma, with one hand simply pole vaulted out of the canal.

Hello again, (If you read any of my previous works)  
Once again I'm asking to hear from you, please tell me if you  
liked this or not. I'm going to post again, and soon… (Only you can  
prevent poor posting.) Tell me what you thought was good, or what the  
story could have done without. I honestly do listen the suggestions and  
comments I've received. Please tell me what you thought of this.

Saotome-sama.  
11-21-97


End file.
